| Steve McClaren's one hundred percent record as | | | | chorus of boos and jeers from a partisan home |
| boss continued as England ground out a rather | | | | crowd who burned the flag of St George and |
| uninspiring victory in Macedonia. | | | | abused black players during England's previous |
| The long legs of Peter Crouch were enough to | | | | visit. |
| send England home happy with all three points and | | | | England's main attacking threat came from |
| top spot in Group E. | | | | Steven Gerrard. |
| Until the breakthrough early in the second half, | | | | The Liverpool skipper looks dangerous on the |
| many of the two thousand England fans present | | | | right hand side and has a much greater influence |
| in the stadium will have watched with | | | | on a game than the ousted David Beckham. |
| apprehension as the team entrusted to bring a | | | | But the biggest plus for England in recent games |
| bright new post-Eriksson era failed to break down | | | | has been the emergence of Owen Hargreaves. |
| a stubborn Macedonian defence fresh from an | | | | The defensive midfielder has been a revelation in |
| opening day victory against Estonia. | | | | his role just in front of the back four. |
| The game started in scrappy fashion, the opening | | | | The young Bayern Munich players runs tirelessly, |
| twenty minutes a succession of free kicks | | | | breaking up opposition attacks and setting up the |
| whistled by an over-fussy referee. | | | | next England play with a simple ball to one of the |
| The fact neither team could string two passes | | | | more creative players. |
| together hardly helped the game as a spectacle. | | | | Unfortunately, Frank Lampard's influence on a |
| England's patient build-up play was greeted by a | | | | game seems to diminish each time England play. |